Background: Obesity is recognised as a state of low-grade chronic inflammation and there is evidence that sarcopenia is also associated with low-grade inflammation. A diet characterised by high levels of inflammatory properties aggravates systemic inflammation. In this study of apparently healthy elderly men, we investigated the association between sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity (SO) with dietary inflammation as measured by dietary inflammatory index (DII).

Methods: As part of the Geelong Osteoporosis Study, we assessed 59 men aged 80-91 years who self-reported good-excellent health. DII scores were computed from a food frequency questionnaire; a greater DII score represented a more pro-inflammatory diet. Body composition was measured by DXA (Lunar). We identified sarcopenia in terms of both low muscle mass and function; low relative appendicular lean mass (rALM, kg/m²) was defined as T-score < -1 and low muscle function as timed up-&-go >10s for 3m (TUG>10). Obesity was defined as percentage fat mass (%FM) >25% and SO was identified as sarcopenia in the presence of obesity. Associations between DII and sarcopenia and SO were determined using logistic regression after adjusting for age.

Results: There were 23 men (39.0%) with sarcopenia, 46 (78.0%) with obesity and 18 (30.5%) with SO. Mean(±SD) DII scores were greater for men with sarcopenia compared to those without sarcopenia (0.68±1.00 vs 0.22±0.96, p=0.08), and for men with and without SO (0.84±1.0 vs 0.21±0.92, p=0.03). The likelihood of greater DII scores associated with sarcopenia and SO persisted after adjusting for age (OR 1.68, 95%CI 0.92, 3.08, p=0.09; and OR 2.05; 95% CI 1.06, 3.94, p=0.03; respectively).

Conclusions: In this sample of elderly men, dietary inflammation was associated with sarcopenic obesity. As dietary intake is modifiable, reducing dietary inflammation may help to prevent or treat sarcopenic obesity in elderly men.